Workplace diversity is under attack: Here’s how employers should respond

Texas governor Greg Abbott’s chief of staff recently issued a memo attacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the workplace (and offices that support them) as problematic and discriminatory against unnamed groups. This was on the back of Florida’s efforts, blocked for now, to quash DEI workplace training programs, and moves by Florida governor Ron DeSantis to eliminate DEI-themed programs and workplace commitments from the state’s education system.

And now, disingenuous arguments are proliferating that DEI is somehow to blame for business failures such as the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, or the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (even though DEI commitments are in place across the Fortune 500, which is generally doing just fine).